Dragon Ball: The Novel
by ThomasHedgehog
Summary: When Goku, a young boy with a tail, and Bulma, a blue-haired teenager, work together to find the seven magic Dragon Balls, they end up making many new friends along the way. But, when the seven Dragon Balls are found, the person who brought them together can have any wish granted... which can't be good, considering evil forces are also after them!


**A note from ThomasHedgehog: Hello there. Thanks a lot for taking the time to check this story out. I'm the author, and I'd just like to say a few things here. First, this story is basically a written version of the Dragon Ball anime. Not Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball, the cartoon that came before Dragon Ball Z. If this fanfic actually ends up being successful, and I still enjoy writing it, I'll probably write one for Dragon Ball Z, but even if I do, that won't be for a very, very long time. If you don't like Dragon Ball or don't know about it, I recommend you have a read, and perhaps you'll go check out the anime. The anime is based on a manga series, but like I said, this is based on the anime, which is slightly different to the manga. I think Dragon Ball (Z) fans will like this a lot. By the way, if somebody in the story is speaking and they something in brackets, that means they are saying in their head. For example:**

"Wow, this food is absolutely great! (Yuck, this is horrible.. but I can't say that, he'll think I'm being rude...)"

** One more thing; whenever something is written in italics, _like this, _it symbolises a new setting. For example: **

_A scorching hot desert_

**So yeah, there'll be lots of different settings in the stories. Anyway, thanks again, and enjoy.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters, settings or anything in this story. Dragonball is owned by Akira Toriyama and FUNimation Productions. I simply translated the anime episode into a written version.**

**Rated T (Teen) for minor violence, minor nudity (well, at least in the actual anime, where you can see it) and minor adult themes.**

* * *

Far away, in an enchanted land that seemed untouched by the steady march of time, there lived an old master named Gohan, who found a baby boy abandoned in the wilderness of the region. The old master raised the boy as his own child, and marvelled as the youngster grew, and became uncommonly strong. Now the boy, known as Goku, is on his own, and has become the sole guardian of his grandfather's most mystical possession: his Dragon Ball.

**Chapter 1: The Secret of the Dragon Balls **

_A beautiful island, seemin__gly in the middle of nowhere. _

Glistening waterfalls flowed down from mountains and rainbows surrounded the sky. Colourful flowers were dotted around on grassland, and animals such as deer drank from rivers, which were full of schools of fish. Butterflies could be spotted in the air, where a purple pterodactyl soared. A short young boy with a brown tail was balancing on a large log of wood which was rolling down a path. His skin was a very light colour, and he wore two red bands around both his wrists. He was wearing a blue costume with a white material wrapped around his waist like a belt, with a ribbon tied at the front. His hair was black and long, and also very spiky. he had semi-big eyes and small arms and legs, and wore a content expression with a smile. He was carrying a very, very large saw that he had no doubt used to chop the wood he was balancing on, and was humming a cheerful tune as he rolled down the path. His name was Goku.

Nearby, two playful monkeys were having fun. One was hanging from a tree, and the other was hanging from that monkey's tail. One of the monkeys waved at Goku.

"Hi!" he said, as he smiled back. "Just hanging around, huh?" he asked, jokingly.

He started laughing excitedly, and began to roll faster on the log. Goku started doing tricks on the log as it rolled faster and faster, coming to a steep mountainside. Goku wasn't worried at all when it began to roll rapidly down the side of the mountain, and did a roly poly on the log as it was still moving. The log hurled itself off a high piece of ground back onto the main path, and Goku jumped off and was able to land back on the wood as it was still rolling.

After a while, Goku arrived at a small house with a blue roof in a very odd shape. It had some windows and looked a little like a Japanese building. Goku wasn't on the log anymore, but was now standing in front of it. He moved his arms in different ways to build strength and picked up the wood, struggling a little; it was very heavy. With all his might, he hurled the log up into the air, where it reached a very high altitude. As the wood was began to fall back to the ground, Goku also jumped very high into the air, and punched the log as hard as he could. The punch was so strong that the wood split into fifteen equal cuboid-shaped pieces, and landed neatly on the ground, in a pile with six pieces on the bottom, five on top of those, three on top of those, and one on the top. It looked roughly like this:

**o  
ooo  
ooooo  
oooooo**

"Well, that takes care of that!" Goku said happily. He then put his hands to his stomach. "I'm hungry, woah."

Little did Goku know, a visitor was approaching his remote mountainside home. The young boy's life was about to begin a radical new phase. Totally radical.

_On the other side of the island, at a mountain_

On the side of the mountain was a small cyan-coloured car that had stopped moving. The word 'TURBO' was written on the door of the car in large red letters, which opened. A young woman who appeared to be in her late teens stepped out. She was wearing a pink dress that had the word 'BULMA' written on it in black capital letters, and was wearing a brown belt with a silver buckle and a small blue bag. She also wore a purple scarf-like bandana around her neck. She had a small mouth and semi-large eyes, with light blue hair that almost matched the colour of the car she had been driving. She also had a light red/dark pink ribbon tied in her hair. She took a big breath of fresh mountain air and out of her blue bag she took a small, stopwatch-like device that had a button on top. She pressed the button and the device beeped. "Let's see here... oh, yeah, there it is." On the radar were several bright yellow dots on a green background that had a grid on it. One was right in the middle and was flashing, and two of the others were very close together. The others were far and scattered.

"You're as good as mine, you little jewel." the girl said, as she got back into her car and drove away speedily.

_Back at Goku's house_

Goku was inside his house now. It was actually quite spacious, with a comfortable bed in one corner. There was also a brown pot in another corner, and an umbrella-like object in yet another. There was also a smaller white pot and a low, red and shiny table. The most interesting item in the room was an orange sphere resting upon a purple pillow, on a grey surface. The ball had four red stars that seemed to be inside it, and it wasn't very big.

"I'm going to go get some food," Goku announced, as he placed a small red stick-like object on his back.

He finished tying a string on the front of his clothes that kept the red object attached to his back, and walked over to the strange orange ball.

"Grandpa, stay there, okay? This won't take long." He began to walk out of his house. "I'll be right back."

Suddenly, the ball started glowing in a orange/yellow colour that was much brighter than before. It started making a strange noise.

"Huh..? Uh... golly, I've never seen you shine bright like that before, Grandpa. How strange. Can you do it again?" Nothing happened.

"You can wait until later if you have to. I'll see you in a little while."

_Shortly after, in a forest_

"Now, what should I have to eat today?" Goku asked himself. A bird could be heard chirping nearby.

"Gosh, it's so hard to decide. Why don't you decide, tummy? ... Fish...? Fish... yeah, haha! That sounds really great!" Goku started jumping around, bouncing his way through the trees. He jumped high and did a front flip, then held onto a tree branch, hurled around it three-hundred-and-sixty degrees, and jumped forward. "Alright, hahaha!" Goku chuckled. He was in a very happy mood, and couldn't stop laughing. He was still giggling as he grabbed a dangling piece of rope and swung over a rocky river.

"But first, I'm gonna need a little snack." He jumped off at a high area above a waterfall.

A few minutes later, Goku was munching cheerfully on a juicy red apple. He was using his tail to hang upside down from a tree full of apples, which is where he had found his little snack. He used his tail to push himself up properly onto the branch he was hanging from, and sat down on it. He took a final big bite from the apple.

"That was good!" he said, throwing the apple down from the tree. Unfortunately for Goku, it hit the head of a Sabretooth Tiger, a common animal in Goku's world that had a bright orange coat of fur, with two massive fangs and lots of other sharp teeth. Goku didn't notice this as he started eating another apple, until the fierce creature growled angrily.

"Hm?" Goku wondered. The animal pounced furiously; clearly it didn't like being hit in the head with apples. It moved towards Goku's head and quickly closed it's jaws. Luckily, all the creature had bitten was air; Goku had moved away from the tree just in time.

"Missed me!" Goku taunted gleefully. He still remained high spirited, even though he had only narrowly avoided having his head bitten off. He ran away much faster than a normal child could run at his size, as the Sabretooth Tiger chased after him. He was able to stay in front of the Tiger as he ran rapidly down a dirt path.

"Come on, hahaha! Catch me if you can, haha!" he laughed. "You're almost there!"

The Tiger stayed in pursuit as it began to gain on Goku, who noticed this and began to run extremely fast. It was then that the Tiger noticed he was not running on ground anymore; there was nothing supporting him except thin air. He had ran off the side of the mountain. The Tiger flailed his arms madly, and his eyes shot out of his head in a very cartoon-like fashion. He realised that it was a very long drop down to a river, but he couldn't help but fall. Whooossshhhh... splash. Luckily, Goku had managed to grab onto a branch when he sprinted off the cliff, as he had also been running too fast to stop. He chuckled - that is, until he realised that the branch was about to snap, as it could no longer support his weight. "Uh oh!" he said, also in a cartoon-like fashion, as it gave way and he started falling towards the river.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-!"

SPLASH.

...

Goku's head rose back above the water as he gasped for air. He spat out water that he had accidentally inhaled and coughed a little.

"That [cough] was great!" he cried, laughing again.

_A few minutes later, on some grass at the side of the river_

Goku had taken his clothes off to dry, and was now completely naked.

"There, that ought to do it. It'll be dry in no time. Here comes the waterfall!" said Goku, as he took a pee in the river. Behind him, he heard a small splash, as a fish jumped out of the river and dived back in.

"Huh? Hey, looks like now is a good time to do a little tail fishing!" Goku stuck the end of his tail into the river. Under the surface, several fish gathered near it. Goku made his tail move up and down a little.

"Come on, you little rascals," he said, as a large shadow in the water that he couldn't see loomed towards him. "I know you think it's a giant worm... take a bite!" Goku chimed in a singsong voice.

The shadow was a fish much, much bigger than the others, with bigger and sharper teeth. It edged towards the tail, and with an evil look in its eye, bit carnivorously into the brown, furry thing.

"Uh! Ahh!" Goku panicked, but kept his cool as he jumped and flew through the air towards the fish, his left leg held out in front of him. Kaboom! He hit the fish hard. It was pushed back into the river and sank towards the bottom of the water. Goku jumped in after it and swam down towards it. He grabbed one of it's fins and started pulling it back out of the river.

"Oh boy! This is one heck of a fish!*****" Goku gargled, as bubbles came out of his mouth.

_Minutes later, on a dirt path_

"This ought to last me until dinner! Heheheh!" laughed Goku, as he carried the fish, which was around six times his size, along the path. He stopped when he heard a noise that was very unfamiliar to him.

"Huh? What's that noise?" It was a low noise that sounded a little bit like a growl. Suddenly, Goku saw a cyan-coloured car with the letters and numbers 'PF 8801' on it's number plate drive over a hill closeby at an intense speed. It was heading towards Goku, who screamed. The blue-haired woman driving the car also screamed. She braked, but was going way too fast to stop in time. The car hit into poor Goku and his fish, which went flying into a tree along with Goku.

"Eeee... yikes.. is he dead? Aaahh.." the girl asked herself, shuddering, with her eyes closed very tightly. She opened them to see the boy standing up, seemingly unharmed, with his fish still with him.

"What the..." he mumbled.

"Well... you're alive?!" the girl asked, still shuddering.

"Grrr... so you thought you finished me off? Well, you're not going to get my fish that easy, you big monster!" Goku growled angrily.

An enormous amount of questions rushed through Goku's mind. Who was this person? What was the big light blue object she was inside? Why did it attack him? Well, whatever it was, it clearly was trying to steal Goku's lunch!

The young boy ran over to the car, and began lifting it in the air, a feat which many people probably couldn't pull off easily.

"Uuuaagghh, stop it! What are you doing?!" the girl asked, as she realized that her car was being held in the air.

"Grrrrr... this is for hitting me!" Goku replied, still growling, as the girl continued to moan in terror. "Grrr..grrr.. uuaaaggghh!" Goku threw the car through the air with all his might. BOOM! The vehicle hit the ground, as two tires burst off. The car was lying on its side. Still angry, Goku took the red stick-like object from his back.

"There! That'll teach you to try and take my fish! Sneakin' up on me like that! Well I'm ready for you this time! Why don't you come out of your shell and fight?!" The girl slowly edged her head to the open window on the side of the car that was facing upwards.

"What's wrong? Don't tell me you used up all of your power already, monster!" Goku continued.

"Not quite!" the girl yelled, as she brought out a small, black shotgun that she had been hiding. She aimed at Goku and shot him with five bullets in a row! The force of the bullets caused him to fall backwards.

"Uh.. hm?" the girl wondered. The black haired freak had to be dead now. But... why is he starting to get up?!

"Awwwwwooohhh... uhhhh! Holy cow! Woah, what was that?!" Goku said, as he sat up.

"How'd you... you shouldn't be alive, kid!" the girl stated, startled.

"So, you thought you'd finished me off again, huh? Well, Grandpa told me about evil creatures like you, your black arts won't work on me!" Goku took the red object he was holding and started dashing towards the girl rapidly!

"Okay, monster! It's your turn!" he held the object like a weapon.

"M-monster?!" the girl whimpered, mortified. This kid looked dangerous! "Hold on, I'm not a monster, kid, I'm a human being, just like you are!" she screamed in defence.

"Y-you are?" Goku asked, as he stopped running towards the girl. He was very curious. "Really?"

"Yes..." the girl replied, in a tone that suggested she was bored and annoyed. She stepped over the window and climbed out of the upturned car.

"Course I am."

"Uh!" Goku ran a little away from the girl.

"You can see that for yourself. Can't you? ... Look, I won't bite!" she stepped closer to Goku, who jumped backwards, unsure if she was to be trusted.

"Uh! Stay back!" he pointed the red stick towards her. "A human, you say?"

"That's right. Wanna see my Certificate of Authenticity?" she replied sarcastically.

"No thanks." Goku said. He wasn't very familiar with the notion of sarcasm. "Hm... uh.. uh..." he walked up to her and began walking around her, as if he was inspecting her.

"How long is this going to take?" she asked, impatiently.

"Will you hush up? ... Well, you look human enough," Goku said hesitantly. "But you're different, you're thin and scrawny!"

"I'm a girl, silly, that's why!"

"A girl? Oh, so that's what you are!"

"Oh my gosh... are you saying you've never seen a girl before?"

"Nope. Besides my Grandpa, you're the only human being that I've ever seen."

"?"

"But Grandpa told me about girls. He told me that if I ever ran into a girl, that I should be as polite as I possibly could."

"I see." the girl winked. "Well, what a nice thing to say. Your Grandpa sounds like a very wise man, is he?"

"Well, he was. He died a very long time ago." Goku lifted the girl's dress with his stick and looked under it at the back.

"Huh?..? Shame on you! What do you think you're doing?!"

"I was just checking to see if you had a tail."

"Huh..? Oh.."

"Don't worry, maybe it just takes girls longer to grow theirs."

The girl covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. "Aheh... I'm sure it'll sprout up anytime now, kid.. (What a weirdo...)"

"How did you get that monster to do what you wanted it to do..." Goku pointed towards the car the girl had been driving.

"That's not a monster, silly, that's a car."

Goku jumped onto the side of the car. "Oh, so this is a car. Grandpa told me about them but I've never actually seen one." Goku started stomping the car with one foot, inquisitively.

"Y'know, for a little kid, you're really strong."

"Thanks! Grandpa trained me to be like steel! Hey... you were driving a car around, right? So, does that mean you're from one of the big cities?"

"You got it."

Goku jumped off of the car. "Wow.. why don't you come to my house with me and I'll cook you some lunch?" he said as he started running back towards his house, picking up the fish again. "You can tell me all about the city you're from! C'mon!"

"Hold on, just a second..." the girl pulled the stopwatch-like device from the small bag again. She pressed the button on top and it beeped. "(It looks like the Dragon Ball is right down the road. Maybe it's at this little kid's house!)"

Goku chuckled a little and walked towards the girl.

"I think it's safe to assume we're having fish for lunch," the girl joked. "Well, alright. So, what's on the agenda?"

"Well, we can have a bite to eat, and talk, then play together!"

"Now, look! If you think we're going to do anything improper then you can forget it!"

"Improper? What does that mean?"

"Oh, never mind... aheheh.. (I guess Grandpa hasn't told him about that yet... this kid's so innocent that he's adorable!)" she giggled.

"Golly, girls sure are strange... well, anyway, let's go!" Goku started walking towards his house again.

"Sounds good. I'll just... follow the giant fish." She started walking too.

"So, kid, what's your name, anyway?" the girl asked.

"My name is Goku. G-O-K-U. Aheheh. What's yours?"

"Uh... my name? Mine?"

"Uh-huh!"

"...Bulma..."

"Hm? Ahaha, that's funny!"

"Hey, Goku's not exactly normal, so there!"

"Yeah, but it's not as weird as yours! Aheheh!"

"Hey, you be quiet. Bulma happens to be very elegant. IT'S A LOT BETTER THAN GOKU, THAT'S FOR SURE! HMPH!"

_Outside Goku's House_

"Wow, that's a nice little place you got there, kid." Bulma said.

"Gee, thanks! Just wait here one second." the young boy replied, setting the fish down on the ground.

Goku walked inside his house to find the orange ball with four stars still glowing and making a strange noise.

"Uh? Listen..."

"What's up?"

"Grandpa's trying to talk to me." Goku told Bulma as she walked over to him.

"But, Goku, I don't hear anyone taaaaaaa..." Bulma noticed the ball.

"Ahhh! Oh my goodness! It's a Dragon Ball!" Bulma said, gleefully. "Aahhh... ahh..."

She pushed Goku out of the way and went to pick up the orange ball. Goku ran back over to her.

"Hey! Gimme my Grandpa back now!"

"Your... Grandpa? You mean this?" She held the ball up to Goku.

"Yeah! This is the only thing that my Grandpa gave me to remember him by!" he said, as he snatched the ball from Bulma's hands. "No-one can touch it but me! ... Look! Look what's it's doing!" The ball was glowing a very bright orange/yellow colour again. "I think Grandpa's trying to talk to me! What do you think he's saying?"

Bulma smiled. "I hate to do this, but I don't really have a choice." she reached into her bag and pulled out two balls that were almost identical to Goku's. They were the exact dame shape and shade of orange. THe only difference was that instead of having four red stars inside them, one had two red stars and one had five red stars. "See?"

"What?! You've got to be kidding! You got two Grandpas, no way!"

"They're not Grandpas, they're called Dragon Balls."

"You sure about that?"

"Definitely. I'm positive. Your ball started glowing because it was reacting to the two that I have." Bulma placed her two balls on Goku's red table. "Look. Put yours down."

"Well... o-okay, but just for a second." He placed the ball with four stars next to the other two.

"Ah..." Goku marvelled as the three balls all starting glowing in the same bright colour.

"Pretty cool, huh? Yeah, these gems have the power to do great things. And not-so-great. Let's just say if a bad person got ahold of these balls, he could really wreak some havoc."

"Well, what do these things do?"

"Sure you wanna know?"

"Yeah."

"Okay..."

_A dark eerie chamber_

Miles and miles away from Goku and Bulma, there was an empty, abandoned chamber, with a single, orange ball with one red star inside it lying atop a red pillow on a long-untouched pedestal. The chamber had lots of statues of knights holding sharp thin axe-like weapons. There was a very big statue of a man in armour behind the pedestal with the orange ball. The large doors to the chamber opened, and three people stepped in.

One was a small, blue man, wearing a red and black patterned beanie hat with a red star on it. His eyes were large and his expression was cunning and sly. Hew as wearing He was wearing black and red robes with a frill around his neck. He had green sleeves and blue pants, tucked into his brown shoes.

One of the other two people was an anthropomorphic dog that was around the same height as the blue man. He was wearing a very dark blue suit that covered almost his whole body. He had a small white string around the suit that had a small ribbon tied at the front. The area around his mouth was a bright yellow colour, and the rest of his head was an orange colour. He had a black, shiny nose and two large ears that stuck out from inside his suit. He had a rather goofy expression. He was wearing brown sandal-like footwear.

The other person was a pretty, young human woman with long black hair. Most of it was down her back, but two strips came down her front. She was wearing a dark grey shirt like suit, with a brown belt with a silver buckle wrapped tightly around her waist. She had a serious but very curious expression. She wore big pants that she tucked into her brown boots.

"Ah, there it is!" the blue man said in a sour voice.

"I-it's awfully d-dark in there, s-sire..." the dog said in a frightened tone.

"Shut up, Shu!" the man replied.

The three walked towards the ball and the blue man picked it up with both hands.

"Ahhh! Come to Emperor Pilaf, my precious, yes!" he said, gleefully. Suddenly, one of the knight statues fell on the man known as Emperor Pilaf, but luckily for him it wasn't very heavy. The knight's visor fell to reveal a skeleton inside the armour.

"Arrgghhh! Get off of me, you bonehead! Yaargghh!" Pilaf yelled as he pushed the suit of armour back against the wall. The skull fell out of the armour and two bats flew out of the skull's eye.

"Uh... ahem.." Pilaf coughed awkwardly. "Well, enough of that, I'm ready to make my wish!"

"Sir.." the girl said.

"What?" Pilaf retorted.

"I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you can't make a wish with just one ball, you have to have the others as well."

"Hm? Aagghh...!" he replied.

"There are seven Dragon Balls, sire. You have to unite all seven of them before the dragon will appear and grant your wish.

"Huughhh... more searching?" Pilaf moaned, disappointed.

"But, just imagine, dear emperor, that glorious day when the seven balls are finally brought together. A beautiful burst of energy will light the sky, and in a blazing surge of fiery power, the Eternal Dragon will rise before you for the sole purpose of granting you a single wish, whatever it may be..."

"Yes, yes, I can see it! Well, okay. I guess I can handle a little more searching, heheheh! Any wish I want, huh?! Well then, I want to RULE THE ENTIRE WORLD!"

_Back at Goku's house_

"Wow! That's amazing! You can wish for whatever you want? And it will come true?" asked Goku, in disbelief, as held up his Grandpa's Dragon Ball. "I wonder why my Grandpa didn't tell me about any of this stuff."

"He may not have known about it, Goku, not many people do. The truth is, you and I are some of the few people in the world that even know about the Dragon Balls, or the dragon."

"Ahh.. don't get mine mine mixed up with yours, okay?"

"Don't worry, that's impossible! Each ball has a different number of stars on it." She lifted up one of her Dragon Balls. "See, this one has five."

"Oh, I get it, Grandpa's ball has four stars!" Goku realized happily.

"Now you're catchin' on! Aheheh, I can't believe that I already have three of the balls ! If I keep this up, I'll be able to wish for a boyfriend by the end of the month! This is so exciting!"

Bulma, who had been looking away from Goku, turned back around. "You are going to let me use your Dragon Balls so I can make my wish, right?"

"You can forget it! Grandpa gave me this ball to remember him by! And I'm not going to hand it over just because you're a girl!"

"But your grandpa said to be as polite as possible to girls!"

Goku stuck his tongue out.

"Ugh! Hey, I know what. Look, I'll trade ya." Bulma lifted up her dress a little so that Goku could see her underwear.

"You let me have your Dragon Ball, and I'll let you have a little peek!" Bulma said to Goku seductively.

"What do I care about seeing your dirty old fanny?" Goku asked.

"IT IS NOT DIRTY, YOU RUDE LITTLE BOY!" Bulma screamed. "Well, shoot. There's got to be a way, the hunt must go on. Hey, I know. Why don't you come with me? We could be partners, whaddaya say?"

"Oh, go hunt balls?"

"Sure, why not? You would get to see so many new things and learn so much, you Grandpa would be very proud of you!"

"Really? You think Grandpa would be proud if I went?"

"Of course he would, kid. Seeing his young grandson that he raised venture out into the world all on his own! Learning all about the great cities, and crossing the desert and seeing the ocean!"

"Alright, that sounds like a lot of fun, I guess I'll go!"

"This'll be great! So, we're partners?"

"Alright, but I still get to keep my Grandpa's ball!"

"You drive a hard bargain! But have it your way! (The little kid's stubborn, but he'll make a good bodyguard until I make my wish! I'll wish for the most perfect boyfriend that ever lived!)" The two began to walk out of Goku's house. "Well, here we go, the start of a great adventure!"

They started walking down the path away from Goku's house. "Hey Bulma, how do we know where to start looking? The Dragon Balls could be anywhere in the whole world, right?"

"Just who do you think you're dealing with here, kid? I'm no amateur!" Bulma reached into her small bag and brought out the stopwatch-like object again. "Look, check it out!" She pressed the button and showed it to Goku. Seven yellow dots appeared. Three were in the centre of the green background, and were flashing. The device started beeping.

"Huh?" Goku wondered what it was.

"It's a special radar that tracks the Dragon Balls! Look, see these three dots?" she pointed at the three in the centre. "These are our three balls. And these," she pointed at the scattered four dots, "are the other Dragon Balls. It looks like the closest ball is right here, about seven-hundred-and-fifty miles to the west."

"Is that far?"

"Let's just say that it's out of our walking distance, and since you destroyed my car, we'll be needing a new set of wheels."

Bulma took a silver case out of her blue bag. "Hmmm..." she said as she opened it. Inside were seventeen neatly organized capsule. Each had a number on it from 1-17, and were ll different colours. Sixteen of the capsules were fairly small, but one of them was twice the size of all the others. "Let's see now, what am I in the mood for...? Ah!" she took out the capsule labelled 9. It was small and light blue. "This one'll be fun for a while! Stay back, kid, stay there." Bulma pressed a button on the top of the capsule and threw it down in front of her. There was a small explosion and a pile of smoke. Once the smoke cleared, a white vehicle was could be seen parked on the path.

The vehicle looked a lot like motorcycle, as it was quite thin and had two wheels, but it had a curved glass roof and doors. There were mirrors on each side of the vehicle, and blue letters and numbers on the back of the glass spelled out 'AF4029'. The name 'Capsule 9' was written on the side of the vehicle.

"Waaahhhh!" yelled Goku. He didn't know what was going on, as he was unfamiliar with modern devices, having lived in the wilderness all his life.

"Check it out," Bulma said, going over to the vehicle.

"W-woah! Bulma, how did you do that?" Goku asked, still shocked. "Y-you're some kind of a witch, aren't you?!"

"What? Nonsense. Witchcraft has nothing to do with it. Everyone in the city has Dino Caps. How could you travel without them?" Bulma climbed into Capsule 9 and sat down.

Goku was still unsure, and started prodding Capsule 9 with his red stick.

"Hey! Will you knock it off? Just hop on, it won't bite you!"

"Hmph." Goku jumped on. "I'm on!"

"Okay, here we gooooo!"

Bulma hit the gas and Capsule 9 went zooming down the path. "A-aagghh!" Goku screamed. He had never been in a vehicle before, let alone an extremely fast one. He soon started to enjoy it. "Neato! This thing goes even faster than I can run! Yep!"

"No duh, squirt. Get with the programme." Bulma replied in a bored tone.

They passed a tree with a small monkey standing on one the branches. It was eating an apple, dropped it in awe as the vehicle drove by faster than anything the monkey had ever seen. "O-ooh ooh, aah, aah!"

The two began driving over hills, getting further and further away from Goku's home with every second.

Goku was clinging hard onto Bulma. "Chill out, Goku, you're squeezing the life out of me!"

"Oops, sorry!"

"Just relax, I happen to be an expert driver. I'm in total controoooooaaaaahh-!"

The vehicle flew off a steep hill, but fortunately landed back on the path safely.

"Hahaha! Wow, that was great, Bulma! Let's go back and do it again! C'mon, that was so much fun! Just one more time, please?"

"(I almost lost it big time on that one! I need to be more careful.)" Bulma thought to herself, as she stepped out of Capsule 9. "Uh, oh... 'scuse me a minute, Goku, time for a pit stop."

"Uh, okay! I'll come too!"

"OH NO YOU WON'T! DON'T THE WORDS 'PIT STOP' MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU? STAY RIGHT THERE!" Bulma shouted as she starting running towards a hidden area in the trees.

"Pit stop? What does that mean?"

"I NEED TO PEE, YOU LAMEBRAIN!" she continued to yell, as she rounded a corner.

"Huh?" Goku hopped out of Capsule 9. "I don't get it. Why can't she just pee right here? How strange."

Then Goku heard a deafening scream. "GOOOOKKKUUUU, C'MERE QUUIIICCKKKK!"

"Huh? I sure wish she'd make up her mind." Goku said, as he ran towards where Bulma went. "Coming, Bulma!"

Goku rounded the corner to find Bulma in the hand of a giant dinosaur-like creature. The creature was about the size of a large house. It had light yellow skin under it's wings and on it's stomach, and dark blue skin on it's back and wings. It had piercing yellow eyes with red and black pupils, and had a long mouth with dozens of white, sharp teeth. It had clawed hands and feet, and an enormous tail. It had an evil look on it's face, and Bulma looked absolutely petrified.

"Heheheheh! Who the heck are you, kiddo?" the creature asked in a deep, creepy voice.

"My name's Goku." Goku replied, with not a trace of fear on his face. "Are you a friend of Bulma's?"

The creature laughed menacingly. "Yeah, that's it." He placed Bulma in his tail, which he curled up so as to hold her with it. He took a long, long rope out from behind his back. "As a matter of fact, we have fancy dinner engagements but the reservations are only for two."

"Oh..."

"SO..." the creature said, going over to Goku.

_The same place, about two minutes later_

Goku had been tied tightly to a tree with the rope, and the creature had walked a few yards away from Goku with Bulma, who was kicking and screaming as she tried to free herself from the monster's grasp.

"Gosh, I think he was lying." Goku said to himself.

"You're a regular Einstein." the monster joked sarcastically. "See ya!" He started to fly away with Bulma, who was still helpless to escape. "Hey," he told Bulma. "Stop being such a downer, baby, I'm in the mood for a happy meal! Hahaha!"

"Hey! Where are you guys going, Bulma? Huh?" Goku shouted up.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE, IDIOT! GET! ME! DOWN!" she screamed back, hitting her fist on the monster's tail.

"Well, gee.. I don't blame her for being upset, but she doesn't have to go calling me names." Goku said to himself.

He used his tail to pull on a loose part of the rope, making the rest of the rope become loose so he could escape. "I'd like to help her down, but I really don't know how to fly. Hey, I've got it!" He ran quickly over to Capsule 9, and jumped in it.

"Let's see here... how's this thing work? Bulma was able to make it fly a few minutes ago." He pulled the gas handle and the vehicle started to move forward slowly. "Woah! It's moving! Come on, whatever you are, I know you can go faster than this, we've got to get moving, Bulma's in trouble!" Suddenly, Capsule 9 started moving much faster, and Goku began to drive rapidly down the road. "WOAH! W-W-AAAHHHHHH!"

"GOKU!" Bulma called down. "PLEASE, HELP ME!"

"Hang on, Bulma! Ahahehah.." Goku drive off of a very steep hill, and Capsule 9 shot extremely high into the air. "Yaaaaaaggghhh!" The vehicle flew so high it reached where the creature was flying. Bulma held out her hand as far as she could towards Goku and the vehicle... just a little more... Goku held his hands out too... just a tiny bit more... he climbed on top of the vehicle...

"Hang on! Just a little further!" he chimed.

"Huh?" The creature had noticed what was going on.

The two reached further and further... but to no avail. Capsule 9 began falling back towards the ground.

"HAHAHAHA!" the creature laughed, as Bulma started panicking more. But it wasn't over yet! As the vehicle was falling, Goku jumped out, getting close to the creature's head... but it still wasn't enough, as he fell backwards again...

Goku took out the red stick he kept on his back. This was his last chance. "POWER POLE, EXTEND!" he yelled. "Here... take this, you mean old bully!" The red stick glowed and began to grow longer... longer... much, much longer... until it was so long Goku was able to swing the pole forwards, and the end of hit the creature mercilessly on the head. The creature bellowed in pain, and dropped Bulma, who screamed the loudest she ever had. Bulma, Goku and the creature began heading towards the ground.

"Here, Bulma!" Goku called. He threw his Power Pole at her just before they hit the ground.

Goku landed feet first on the ground. He was fine.

The creature fell down a giant ravine just behind Goku, and it didn't sound like he had a happy landing. Goku looked down the ravine, to see the creature flat on the ground. "Hm? Too bad. I really don't like to hurt anybody, but he gave me no choice."

"GOKU!" somebody screamed. Goku looked up to see it was Bulma. She was being held in the air by Goku's Power Pole, which had wedged itself into the side of a cliff. "Aren't you going to help me?!" Unfortunately, she still needed to pee, and it seemed she couldn't hold it in any longer... "Help, I'm having a bit of a crisis up here!" she whimpered.

"Be right there, Bulma!" Goku smiled.

_A couple minutes later, back on the road in Capsule 9_

As Goku and Bulma continue their quest, what will befall them next? The race is on as both good and evil forces plot a crash course! Who will be the first to unlock the mystery of the seven magic Dragon Balls?

**Next time: The Emperor's Quest!**

* * *

**Well, thanks very much for reading! Please review and tell me what you liked and disliked about. Constructive criticism is welcome. If I think I'd like to continue this, and anyone liked it, I'll probably upload a chapter for episode 2. And again, if you haven't, I recommend checking out Dragonball/Dragonball Z, be it the anime or the manga. Goodbye for now! **

***I'm not completely sure if this is what Goku actually says here, because he is underwater when he says it in the anime and they added a bubble effect to his speech. But it sounded a little like this and it still makes sense, so I'm just assuming this is what Goku says. **


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